The present invention relates in general to sausage casing stuffing equipment, and in particular to a new and useful device for stuffing the substance into a casing with means for stopping the stuffing operation when the casing bursts.
Stuffing machines are known per se and are widely employed. They are very efficient and automated, at least to a large extent. Such machines have already been equipped with mechanisms for engaging gathered up sausage casings, animal intestines or the like, so that the process of sausage making need only be interrupted shortly when a new gathered-up casing is engaged on the filling tube. This kind of sausage stuffing machine is mostly further combined with a device for twisting off the sausages, thus forming the sausage ends. Preferably, the pump for filling the gathered-up sausage casing in such a machine and forcing it through a braking ring operates without interruption and at locations where sausage ends are to be formed, the product is squeezed during its advance by means of a squeezing device which moves along with the product. The ends are properly formed by continuously rotating the filling tube.
At the location of squeezing, the advancing stuffed sausage string is stopped, yet the sausage portion between this location and the mouth of the filling tube continues rotating with the tube, so that two adjacent sausage ends are formed. All this is done very fast. Depending on the strength of the casing, etc., and also on the consistency of the pasty filling, it may occur that the load during the end formation becomes excessive and the casing bursts. The pump, however, which is usually of high capacity, continues operating and it may happen that a great amount of filling, in this case sausage meat, is spilled and lost. Damage may thus be done both to the equipment and by losing valuable material, particularly if, in a large meat processing plant, a plurality of machines are attended by a single operator so that the operation cannot be watched continuously.